Thirty-nine
scholastic chess teams from across the United States competed for a chance at
an all-expense paid trip to London in the inaugural Yes2Chess competition.
After nearly three months, Columbia Grammar Preparatory (NY) won the honor by
the very slimmest of margins. Actually, there wasn't any margin, but we'll get
back to that.

For the thirty-nine
teams from places like Homestead, Florida and Valencia, California, Yes2Chess
match day couldn't come soon enough. This online double-elimination competition
did more than give the kids a chance to compete against young players aged 7-11
from across the United States.

"The competition brought together the students and the
school, supporting and encouraging the players from week to week as we awaited
the next match," said Susan Berger, the coordinator for the Imagine
International Academy of North Texas (coached by GM Babakuli Annakov). "The
competition really energized the students to practice, study and get together
to review games and prepare for the next match." The Imagine team finished 3rd
after starting the event by winning their first 6 matches.

There
could not have been a closer finish in the U.S. Finals. The two teams were both
from the New York City area, Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School and Yung
Wing Elementary. In the initial round of the event, the two had been paired and
Columbia Grammar barely won, 3-2. Yung Wing would not be outscored again, but
it was Columbia Grammar who took the title.

Facing elimination against Columbia
Grammar (coached by Sophia Rohde, John Macarthur, Danny Rohde, Danny Vulis,
Andrew Harding, and GMs Michael Rohde and Joel Benjamin), Yung Wing handed the
eventual winners their only loss, 3-2. Now, each team had a loss, so it was on
to the final match. It ended in a draw! Yes2Chess officials turned to their
tie-break system and the score of the bottom board was tossed out, handing the
match to a very excited Columbia Grammar. Said a justifiably proud Sophia
Rohde: "I didn't even tell the kids about London until just before the final
match."

Event
TD Alex Holowczak emailed a short write-up to the top teams after the final
match.

As an example of how
close it has been, it could have been so different. On board 4, black had
worked his way into a great position after white's 59th move:

Unfortunately, c3+ as
played in the game loses! Running it through the computer now, 59.. fxg5
apparently also drew, but I hadn't looked at that.

IM Malcolm Pein, Chief
Executive of London-based Chess in Schools and Communities, which arranged for
the Yes2Chess competition said:
The success of the event has been
unprecedented, with participation across 8 countries in face to face and online
tournaments. With the support of our sponsor Barclaycard and the cooperation of
ChessBase we have run a tournament with over 10,000 children from primary
schools and our ambition is to make it double in size next year thanks to
technical improvements and the addition of new territories.

Besides the United
States, the Yes2Chess competition was held in Denmark, Portugal, Spain,
Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden. The winning teams from each of
those countries are enjoying the royal treatment (simul by GM David Howell,
Houses of Parliament Reception, a theatre trip to see the Lion King, and much
more) in London and battle in the final on July 8th.